


Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here

by lethargicProfessor



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Gen, parental!Bruce, post-Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 16:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethargicProfessor/pseuds/lethargicProfessor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce Wayne is tormented by the ghosts of his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here

Bruce Wayne is tormented by the ghosts of his past.

Every action is a reminder of what he’s lost – his parents, his old life. His partner.

He has learned to keep those thoughts down. Functioning, both as CEO of Wayne Enterprises and as Batman requires his full concentration. He can’t afford another mistake.

For the most part, those ghosts stay quiet. On anniversaries, birthdays, they rear their ugly heads, and the villains of Gotham seem to get the short end of the stick on those special dates.

But not this one.

He thought it was because it was recent – after all, only four months had passed since Jason’s funeral. Everyone was still taking it hard, coping however they saw fit.

Bruce had to be strong, for Dick, for Alfred, for the team. Both teams. But at night, when the pressure felt intolerable, even for Batman himself, the ghost would come.

There wasn’t a pattern as far as he could tell. He could be struggling to sleep, reading, working on papers from the day, and he would show up.

Jason, in a dirty black suit.

Jason in a red hoodie, twirling a crowbar in his hands.

Jason in his Robin suit, brimming with confidence and bravado, like the day when he was first introduced to the team.

All with a bitter, cold smirk on his lips, the likes of which Bruce had never seen. Jason, for all his faults, had been a good child, loyal and brash and animated. This Jason was warped, twisted.

And it was all his fault.

A fact that the specter delightfully reminded him of on a nightly basis.

“So what is it this time, Bruce? Who had to die because of your mistakes?” The older man ignored the jibes, struggling to ignore the boy. If he pretended he wasn’t listening, Jason would lose his patience and disappear.

“Do you miss me, Bruce?” Some nights he seemed genuinely curious, perched on his desk or on the edge of his bed.

“Yes.” Satisfied for the time being, Jason nodded, watching quietly until Bruce finally fell asleep. Those were good nights, but painful in a different way.

And then there were the hard nights, when Bruce’s nerves were frayed, when Jason seemed to pull out all the stops to antagonize, to hurt him the way he had been hurt. On those nights, he seemed older, filling out the brown leather jacket better, sharper and angrier.

“Why didn’t you kill him, Bruce?” He was agitated, pacing in front of him, combat boots silent despite their obvious weight. “He killed me. He’s killed others. He deserves it! So why is he still alive?”

“You don’t understand, Jason.” Those nights, Bruce struggled the most to keep his temper in check. Emotions made you irrational. It made logical arguments near impossible.

Jason scoffed, running his hands through his hair, tugging at the white streak. “I don’t understand _what_? Your morals? He’s killed people, good people, and he’s going to do it again! He’ll keep doing it as long as he’s alive because he knows you won’t kill him!”

Small things around the room rattled the angrier he got, like a poltergeist. The angry spirit of an unavenged son.  But Bruce knew a thing or two about vengeance. He knew that the raging fire in Jason’s…spirit, ghost, whatever would eventually burn out.

So on those sleepless nights, he felt the brunt of his son’s pain, and hoped for a day when Jason would finally be at peace. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a plot bunny for what could be a bigger fic focusing on the years after Jason's death in YJ-verse. Not sure where I'm going with it, exactly, but there's a possibility there could be more.


End file.
